Rafael Nadal and Bernard Tomic will battle for a semifinal spot in Stuttgart on Friday. Gael Monfils and Philipp Kohlschreiber are also in action.
(1) Rafael Nadal vs. (5) Bernard Tomic
Nadal and Tomic will be going head-to-head for the third time in their careers when they collide in the quarterfinals of the Mercedes Cup on Friday. Both of their previous encounters have come at the Australian Open and Nadal has never surendered a set. He prevailed 6-2, 7-5, 6-3 in 2011 and advanced via retirement in 2014 after taking the first set 6-4.
Nadal’s grass-court campaign got off to a bit of a rocky start on Thursday but he fought past Marcos Baghdatis 7-6(5), 6-7(4), 6-2 after two hours and 40 minutes. The 10th-ranked Spaniard is now 30-10 on the season and looking for just his second title of the year. Tomic did not drop a set in victories earlier this week over Jan-Lennard Struff and Tommy Haas. The 24th-ranked Australian has always been adept on grass and he should have no trouble handling Nadal’s heavy topspin with his two-handed backhand–especially on this particular surface. With the top seed still struggling, a confident Tomic will have a good chance at pulling off an upset.
Pick: Tomic in 3
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(4) Gael Monfils vs. (6) Philipp Kohlschreiber
Kohlschreiber and Monfils will be facing each other for the 12th time in their careers on Friday. Monfils is leading the head-to-head series 9-2, but Kohlschreiber won their only previous grass-court encounter. That also came in Germany during the buildup to Wimbledon, as Kohlschreiber treated the home crowd to a 6-3, 6-3 victory in the 2011 Halle semifinals. The two veterans most recently squared off earlier this season in a Davis Cup hard-court rubber, with Monfils going into hostile territory and notching a point for France via a 6-4, 7-5, 7-6(4) decision.
A difficult draw is off to a remarkably routine start for Kohlschreiber, who is a mediocre 16-13 on the season following a pair of wins this week. The world No. 29 disposed of Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-3, 6-4 before coasting past Jerzy Janowicz 6-4, 6-4. Monfils got a first-round bye as the No. 4 seed then held off Andreas Haider-Maurer 7-6(6), 7-6(5) on Wednesday. The world No. 16 is a solid 23-9 for his 2015 campaign and he is coming off a fourth-round showing at Roland Garros. Current form favors Monfils, but the surface and home-court advantage should see Kohlschreiber through to a hard-fought victory.
Pick: Kohlschreiber in 3
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Yes I am saw that in the planner and it didn’t say Live ATP …… They didn’t show Rafa’s match live.